Seven Years

In 2004, seven years ago today, Clint proposed to me, right here in this house. I recounted some of this in a recent post, but I just want to spend a little time today enjoying the memory. Some may think that it's a little cliche to be proposed to on Valentine's Day, but it was perfect timing for us. You see, it was not only Valentine's Day, it was also the day that Clint moved into this house that has been our home through so many of our "firsts." Clint had closed on the house a couple of days earlier and Valentine's Day was on a Saturday that year, so it happened to be the day he had chosen to move in (he didn't want to take time off work). He wanted me to feel like his home was my home and so he made it our home by proposing when he moved in.

I was completely clueless, though I'm not sure how I was clueless, I knew it had to be coming soon because we had already discussed getting married that summer (not in detail, we had both just expressed that we were ready). We had agreed not to go out for Valentine's Day. The restaurants are crowded and we were planning to spend the day moving, so we thought we would just have a quiet dinner at the new house after we were done for the day. We were supposed to have help that day and get a lot of the big things done, but due to a brief, sleet storm, the roads were a little nasty, so we postponed large items until Sunday, but we went ahead and moved some of the smaller boxes and stuff.

Apparently, I almost ruined the proposal several times. The night before, Clint had suddenly changed his mind about going to dinner. I argued that I didn't think a restaurant was a good idea, but he was insistent. So, knowing that we were planning to go out, I packed up some clothes and stuff to get ready and brought it all with me. I was trying to plan ahead. I figured with trying to get everything moved before Monday, we were going to be busy all day, so I thought I would save time, by getting ready for dinner at the new house. Clint, on the other hand, had planned for me to leave to get ready (he wanted to stage the proposal). Oops. . . He asked me, "When are you leaving to get ready?" When I said I wasn't, he came up with a quick lie. He told me he was leaving to pick up my Valentine's gift (which he really did leave to get something) and then when he got back, he yelled for me to stay in the bathroom because he had to hide my gift. As we were leaving to go to dinner, I noticed that Clint's cell phone was on the kitchen counter (purposefully left so he had an excuse to go back inside and stage the proposal since I had ruined his first plan). Once again, trying to be helpful, I said, "Clint, don't forget your cell phone." (It's a good thing he didn't give up.) He grabbed the phone, we got into the truck and he told me he forgot something and went back inside (though he wouldn't tell me what). When he came back out, he was carrying deoderant (his cover for going back inside). Even this odd behavior did not clue me in that something was up. So, after waiting an eternity, we had a nice dinner and then headed back to the house. As we were on our way home, I was playing with the button on the middle console. For some reason this REALLY irritated Clint. He snapped at me and I told him to calm down (little did I know that the ring was hidden in there and he was nervous that I would find it). When we got home, we walked into the house and there was a small table sitting in the entry way with a dozen roses and those little Hallmark kissing bears. I thought this was my Valentine's gift and I thought it was so sweet that he had set it up ahead of time. As I was telling him thank you, he told me I needed to read the card. He handed me a stack of those floral arrangement cards and As I flipped through them (one word on each card) they read, "Will you Marry me?" When I looked up Clint was down on one knee with the ring in his hand and looking very nervous. I didn't even have time to see the ring as I hugged him and said yes.

Now, seven years later (married for 6 1/2 years), so much has changed! Our family of two has become a family of SEVEN! My Valentine's have multiplied exponentially! As we are currently trying to sell our house, this is likely our last Valentine's Day in this house:( I wish I could say that we were doing something spectacularly sentimental to commemorate the day, but we have five young kids, so we will be eating dinner, putting kids to bed, and if we're lucky enough to get all of that to happen by a decent time, we'll finish the movie we started last night . . . and while a romantic date night would be fun, I truly wouldn't have it any other way!

I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. A man that has stood by me and been my rock when life has thrown us some curve balls. A man who is a wonderful father, an awesome husband and my best friend.